Tony Robinson's Crime and Punishment
Tony Robinson's Crime and Punishment is a British documentary for Channel 4. In a four-part series, Tony Robinson goes on a fascinating and sometimes bizarre journey to discover the origins of our laws and what we do to people when they break them. From trials by boiling water, through the decapitation of a king, to the emergence of our modern democracy, it is a journey that starts two thousand years ago and remains unfinished today. It aired on Australian screens in 2009 on ABC1.
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Seasons & Episodes
1. Feud Glorious Feud
A new four-part series in which Tony Robinson goes on a fascinating and sometimes bizarre journey to discover the origins of our laws and what we do to people when they break them. In this first programme, Tony looks at the first millennium AD and the waves of foreign invaders that left their mark on the way we organise ourselves and sort out disputes, from Anglo Saxon family blood feuds in which it was perfectly legal to bump off a rival, to a surprisingly sophisticated system of courts and written laws established by King Alfred.
2. Guilty As Charred
Tony Robinson continues his fascinating and sometimes bizarre journey to discover the origins of our laws and what we do to people when they break them. This week, Tony gets medieval and finds out how a turbulent 150 years left us with professional judges, trial by jury and a set of laws for the entire country.
3. New King on The Block
Tony Robinson continues his fascinating and sometimes bizarre journey to discover the origins of our laws and what we do to people when they break them. This week Tony examines the 16th century and the reign of Henry VIII, whose marital problems cast Britain adrift from Europe and changed the course of our legal history.
4. Have I Got Noose For You
Concluding episode of Tony Robinson's fascinating and sometimes bizarre journey to discover the origins of our laws and what we do to people when they break them. The 18th century was a golden age for business, when property was king but the fear of crime meant that 200 offences, including pick-pocketing, were punishable by death.
